


A Confrontation with Higgins

by Faie



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 10:46:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17938343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faie/pseuds/Faie
Summary: This takes place right after "A Regrettable Deal" and is a different interpretation of the post-conduct interaction.





	A Confrontation with Higgins

Once again I had helped him and once again he had been rude to me. He was so ready to make me an enemy when all I wanted was for us to be equals. I had his letter crumpled up in my fist. An insult for me bending over backwards to help him. He had asked me for supplies to build some grand new invention. Supplies that were not easy to get and put me in more danger than the average builder had to face. Even still, I did it to show him that I wanted to be friends with him. I wanted this feuding between us to end.

And what did that rat do? He told me how stupid I was and that he wasn’t even going to repay me for the supplies. I had had enough of his blatant hatred for me. I was tired of all the teasing and abusing me. 

So I followed him to the Abandoned Ruins one day. He must have been going to collect raw materials for a commission. The Civil Corps does a good job at making sure that the area is clear of any dangers. For a fee, they'll allow civilians to go in there and collect any scrap they can find. I remember my early days would be spent drinking water to fill an empty stomach so I would have enough for that fee. 

Higgins never noticed me on his way into the minds. He barely paid attention to Mars leaving the mine with a sack of trinkets that he had excavated. Garbage that was seen as treasures to the right people or dangerous weapons to others. Mars stumbled out of the way as Higgins charged by him. I steadied him and picked up the few springs and circuits that fell out of his over stuffed pockets. We watched Higgins go beyond the large steel doors that sealed off the ruins from the rest of the town. “Thanks, Linda.” Mars said to me, readjusting the junk in his arms. “Higgins is such a jerk sometimes, I have no idea how you stand it.” 

I glanced over at the steel doors. “I’ll have a talk with him.” I stated. “I think this has gone on long enough.” Mars paled, looking at me concerned. 

“Are you sure?” He choked. “Don’t you just want to get someone from the Civil Corps to talk to him.” I shook my head thinking back to the last time they thought Higgins had harassed me. 

“I don’t like how they deal with him.” I admitted. “I think it’s better if I handle this on my own.” Mars looked at me nervously but shrugged. 

“Alright, if you’re sure.” He relented. “I would be more hesitant but I’ve seen you take on Sam before so I know that you could handle Higgins any day.” I beamed at the compliment. 

“Thanks Mars. Tell Carol I say hello.” I said, walking off towards the entrance to the ruins. 

The doors lead to a corridor which only leads to a rickety elevator. Since I didn’t see Higgins in here I assumed that he was already down deep in the mines. As civilians, there are only a few floors that we are allowed access to and that is at the bottom of the ruins where the ancient structure is the most stable. This is also where the most valuable stuff is. I didn’t travel far from the elevator before I heard the distant clang of metal striking metal. I followed it to find Higgins brutally attacking a half buried metal structure, trying to pry some of the copper from its surface. He went after it with such anger that I felt the need to stand back from him. “Higgins!” I called and the clanging stopped. He turned and looked at me, his face flush and his eyes hardened with annoyance.

“What do you want, twerp.” He spat.

“We need to talk.” I said. He threw down his hammer which he had been using to bend the copper plating out of place. The sleeves of his checkered dress shirt were rolled up but that hadn’t kept them clean from the grime of the cave. His pants and pullover were in worse condition. 

“You got my note, huh?” He smirked. “Did you really think I was going to give you anything? After you have everything?”

“What do you mean everything? I- Look, Higgins, you can’t keep being horrible to me and everyone else in town. We did nothing to deserve this.” I shot back. His smirk fell into a sneer. 

“Yes, you did.” He said. “You all do.”

“No, I don’t.” I argued back. “Since my very first day here, you have been mean to me. You do your best to undermine me at the guild. You’ve made me into your rival even though that is something that I never wanted.” His sneer faltered. He looked taken aback but quickly darkened his face into a scowl. 

“You came to this town. You got handed a free workshop. You had Presley looking after you at the guild. You were accepted immediately by everyone in town. I’ve lived here my whole life and that’s nothing that I’ve ever had.” He shouted. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. The oily grime on them slicked back his black hair and smudged his forehead. 

“Others would accept you if you were nice to them, you know.” I said. He hunched his shoulders, glaring down at me. He had taken a few steps closer to me and I stood my ground against him.

“No they don’t.” He said. “They have always treated me like dirt. Even when I was a child living on the outskirts of town I was too poor for them to be bothered with me. My parents were never treated with respect by the others in town. We were seen as a reminder that severe poverty existed in Portia. We made the town look bad to visitors with our old dirty clothes and hollow cheeks.” He clenched his fists, his frame shaking with emotion. “The guild only accepted me as a builder once I had my shop in town. Even then I have had to work hard every day to keep my respect. I can’t take one day off or make one mistake or I’m back to where I was starving and pathetic, banished to the mutant infested countryside again.”

Any anger I had shifted. I saw the scared and hurt child behind this angry man. “Higgins,” I began but his piercing brown eyes flitted up to mine. 

“Don’t!” He screamed. “Don’t you dare pity me. You have a perfect life. The one that I always wanted and it was just handed to you. You didn’t have to work for everything you have gotten. You don’t have to work like I do. You are allowed to make mistakes. You don’t have to work to just get commissions. People beg you to take commissions from them. You overtook the ranking that I worked my life to get at the guild in a couple of years because you had Presley mentoring you from the start. I won’t be pitied by someone as privileged as you.” 

“Privileged? Handed to me?” I shrieked. “You don’t know me! You don’t know the life I had before coming here. You had parents, Higgins. My mother died while I was a child. My father left me before I was born. I was left with my aunt and treated like some mutt by the locals of her town. The threat of war grew too close and I had to leave to find a better life. I left my aunt, the only person who has ever really been there for me, in an area that might be destroyed. This workshop is the only thing that my father has ever done for me. And even then he left me with a broken shack. I made that place what it is all on my own. I worked to get to where I am today and I did it all without being a jerk to others because I was given a bad start to life.” I finished my rant feeling the heat in my cheeks cooling down. Higgins stared at me wide eyed, his own anger lost for a moment. I immediately felt bad for letting myself get that angry. He didn’t deserve to be yelled at like that. 

“Higgins, I-I’m sorry.” I stammered.

He softly mumbled, “No, I’m sorry.”

“What?”

He looked angry again, scowling at the floor of the mine. “I said I’m sorry. I misjudged you and I shouldn’t have made you into my rival.” I gave him a small smile.

Just then a voice called out from towards the elevator. Arlo appeared with a sword and a lantern in hand. “We received a tip that a fight was going to happen down here.” He declared, shooting an accusing look at Higgins. “Linda, are you ok?” I sighed softly and smiled at the tall red headed fighter. 

“Yep, everything's alright Arlo. I just came down here to talk to Higgins about our last collaboration and ask him if he wanted to work with me on the museum commissions.” I said cheerily. Higgins looked surprised.

“Are you sure?” Higgins asked. I smiled at him and nodded. 

“Absolutely,” I said. “This project is too big for me to do on my own and with your help we could get it done so much faster and better.” 

“Well it’s good to see you working together.” Arlo said. “No more of this rivalry nonsense.” 

“No,” Higgins confirmed. “No more rivalry nonsense.” We smiled at each other. Finally we were friends. 

“Linda, want me to escort you up top?” Arlo asked. I nodded and waved goodbye to Higgins. As we traveled up the elevator I could hear the steady even sounds of his pickaxe mining out metal for our next project.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to be as accurate as possible with characters and their backstories. I haven't finished the game yet and don't want to give myself too many spoilers so I'm unsure about the builder's relationship with her father. As a side note, I'm getting the name Linda off of the wiki. She isn't meant to be an OC character.


End file.
